I’ve already had two hard disk failures on my work Mac. The first time was on a PowerBook, but my home directory was recovered after about 2 weeks. The second time was on a new MacBook Pro that replaced the PowerBook as a result of the first failure. It contained much of the data from the first failure, and took about 6 weeks to recover most of my home directory as well as some applications. I think I learned my lesson!
Yesterday, I finally got a nice, 500 GB, FireWire external hard disk so that I can begin to back up both of my Macs. Lovely. But now what? I am researching the best engineering solution to meet my requirements, listed below:
-
Back up of both hard disks
I have a personal PowerBook and a work MacBook Pro. I’d like to back up both hard disks on a regular basis.
-
Consolidate data libraries
I have an iPhoto and iTunes libraries on both machines. Both started from the same copy but have since diverged significantly. I would like to use the external hard disk to keep the libraries synchronized.
-
Granular File Restoration
I would like to have the ability to synchronize, if I wish, a unique set of files to my local machine. For example, I’d rather keep my entire music library on the hard disk and only download a set of playlists that I want to listen to.
-
Sharing Data Between Macs
I want to easily access data that originated from the other Mac. Say I have a license for an application on my PowerBook that I’d like to copy over to the MacBook. I know that I can do it over the network or BlueTooth, but is it possible to use the external HD as an intermediary?
I think that these four requirements pretty much sum it up concisely. Here are various solutions that I am contemplating:
- WD Backup
The software that comes packaged with the hard disk. It seems pretty feature-laden, and I think it will meet Requirement 1, but I’m not entirely sure about the other requirements.
- SuperDuper!
A widely-acclaimed disk recovery program. Uses sparse disk images to maintain active backups. It might be able to meet Requirement 2 by the creation of a separate disk image for specific libraries.
- unison
An open-source tool for synchronizing multiple file systems. Combines functionality of rsync with SCM features. It seems that with some effort I’ll be able to meet all of the requirements.
- In-House Solution with SCM
Write my own backup system that leverages a revision control system to meet all the requirements. I would probably start out with a golden disk that will contain a merge from both hard disks. I would then use some versioning features, such as branching and local checkouts, for granular control (Requirement 3). I would probably use Subversion or Perforce. But then I’d have to deal with scheduling. Besides the fact that this will probably be a pretty involved undertaking.
Some other considerations involve handling of the raw 500 GB of storage. I need to figure out whether I should go with a single partition or multiple partitions. I am considering reserving part of the disk to save movies from my DVR. Also, I’m thinking of setting up a RAID scheme, but that may be overkill.
So does anyone out there have any other suggestions or feedback about how I should go about doing this? I hope that I’ll be able to implement a solution before my hard disk crashes yet a third time!
Technorati Tags: mac, external hard disk, unison, perforce, subversion, backup
The centrality of the web browser as a surfing medium has been very cyclic over the years. The utility and interface of prehistoric browsers such as NCSA Netscape 4 and Internet Explorer 4 was very static and limited, but they served as the main portal to the world-wide web. Many advanced users would nevertheless resort to shell-based connectivity, such as Telnet for basic internet services (e.g. IRC, mail, news). Then came dynamic HTML and Javascript, which provided some user interactivity. But with the advent of XML and web services, people began thinking outside the box, even contemplating the end of HTML. The birth of fourth generation browsers like Firefox, Safari, and Opera, did not tickle users’ fancy, despite the fact that they incorporated and espoused web services principles. Some technologists even called for the end of the web browser. Those fears, though, stemmed from a failure to separate the idea of web development from web browser development. Modern browsers have, for a long time, enabled advanced functionality. That’s why so many people were blown away when Google Maps did their magic right on their trusty ol’ browsers. Ajax and the Web 2.0 revolution have since been reasserting the web browser as a prime medium not only for web surfing, but for general applications. With ubiquitous internet connections, there is even an argument over whether the browser will replace the desktop.
But the truth is that, with RSS and other XML web services, the user web experience is gradually becoming more decentralized. Delivered content is no longer tied to its presentation. The end-user can decide how, and when, to view it. Web services have enabled this decentralization a long time ago. It has just taken this long for specific implementations to realize this. There are now countless applications, big and small, that deliver downloaded content in one form or another, right over HTTP.
For example, on my Mac I’ve been using NetNewsWire Lite as an RSS reader. It is a great app that aggregates blog and news feeds into one interface. I can read content on-demand, and offline. One terrific usage is the ability to subscribe to RSS feeds of custom Google News. So I get news about Lance Armstrong instantly delivered right to my door step, whenever it is reported. Listening and subscribing to podcasts through iTunes is another realization of web services at work.
But I think the finest example of the decentralized user experience is desktop widgets. The most popular flavors are Apple’s Dashboard (which I use) and Yahoo! Widgets Engine. These applications deliver custom content in cute little, well, widgets. The technology is built on web services and the interface is provided in HTML. While in its infancy, I think that the widget framework has a huge potential. With existing widget support for Ajax, it could conceivably replace web browsers altogether.
The strides being made with Ajax and Web 2.0 are nevertheless establishing the web browser as an extremely essential component in the user-experience. Presentation of content is still very important, and website designers have gone to great lengths to provide simple and beautiful webpages. Sites like Technorati.com, Digg.com, and the brand-spankin’-new Zillow.com, are reason enough why the browser is not going away anytime soon.
Technorati Tags: software, internet, web, ajax, xml, rss, web 2.0, mac, netnewswire lite, widgets
